We’ve all been there, you hear a song that catches your attention at some mall or a friend’s place and instantly used Shazam to find out which band or artist it was. The music recognition app has finally hit its 20th birthday with over 70 billion song recognitions and honestly, it still remains one of the premier apps in the segment. To say that it kind of changed the way we find new music would be an understatement. Discovering new music was made much easier and gave a lot of people a new way to find and appreciate new bands and artists. The app now boasts over 250 million global users.
To mark the occasion, Shazam has invited fans to take a trip down memory lane with a special playlist comprised of the most Shazamed song of each calendar year for the past 20 years. Featuring everything from Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister” to Sia’s “Cheap Thrills,” the playlist is a true reflection of the music fans across the globe actively searched for over the past two decades. You can check out the playlist here. Bands like Masked Wolf have also heaped praise on the app, stating “The fact that people all over the world took time out of their day to pull out their phone and Shazam my songs is a huge honour for me as an artist. You know you’ve got something special if you see the Shazam stats moving”
Shazam’s charts have also become a barometer for unexpected pop culture moments. Kate Bush’s 1985 song “Running Up That Hill” in “Stranger Things” led to an all-time peak in Shazams of the singer, and the track took No. 1 on the Shazam Global Top 200 for 10 days. It ended up reaching the top of 25 national charts. The company has also implemented a new concert discovery feature, which spotlights concert information and tickets on sale for shows nearby, simply by Shazaming a song, or by searching for it in the Shazam app or website.